From Robert Whitcomb "Digital Diary,'' in GoLocal24.com:

This time of year reminds me of fishing for smelt, which would run from fall into winter. I grew up in a house up a hill from a harbor on Massachusetts Bay. When it started to get cool in late September and early October, we’d take bamboo rods with several hooks attached to something that looked a little like a coat hanger down to a dock and try to catch as many of these small fish to take home and fry in butter. They were delicious. We’d do this several times a week until November, when it was usually too cold and windy to enjoy such fishing.

It was a quiet seasonal joy.